The Tigers have called up Casey Fossum from Toledo. A corresponding roster move hasn’t been announced yet.
Fossum was signed as a minor league free agent this spring and has pitched very well for the Mud Hens. In his last 3 starts he has 31 strike outs and 6 walks in 20.2 innings with only 2 runs crossing the plate.
As for who is heading out, I don’t know. Bobby Seay has struggled as of late with 4 walks in his last 3 outings and you wonder if he might be hurting and heading to the DL. Of course there is also Francisco Cruceta who has been struggling, but it would require him passing through waivers to be sent down.
Tigers promote Fossum to majors | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
UPDATE: Francisco Cruceta was DFA’d. He’d been awful in his last few outings, and not that great in his other ones. Regular DTW commentor Craig sat next to a NL scout last night who had this to say about Cruceta:
Cruceta is the real deal despite his numbers lately. He thinks with his odd spring, he should have had another month in Toledo or wherever to get mentally tough.
This seems reasonable enough, and it looked like Cruceta’s splitter/fastball combo could be devastating if he knew where it was going. Hopefully he can clear waivers and the Tigers can give him some more seasoning time in the minors where he isn’t killing the big club.
He’s about 30 right? I was just reading about his stellar start. Is he coming up as reliever, or maybe Leyland is going to try a seven man rotation? (kidding, I hope).
Yeah Fossum is roughly 30. I’m too lazy to look it up at the moment. I remember not being impressed with him as a Devil Ray, but then again maybe he’s a late bloomer.
He should be the quintessential long man/mop up guy. He and Miner are exactly the same. Except Casey has a funny name.
The Bullpen is now a bigger mess: on the DL right now are Rapada, Bautista, Rodney and Zumaya. Some is going to get put on the DL, sent down or DFA’d when these guys come back. The guys pitching decent are the guys with options remaining (Dolsi, Miner), whereas Seay, Crucetta and Lopez would have to clear waivers.
Stephen – Miner and Fossum are not the same. Miner has a plus sinker and a great changeup. Fossum doesn’t.
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They both suck and have no business being on a contender. Then again, since this isn’t a contender there’s plenty of room for both of them to put more days toward their mlb pension.
Stephen – Miner was a pretty big part of the 2006 staff that, you know, won the AL Pennant.
Well, the fact that a scout said Cruceta is “the real deal” suggests he’s not clearing waivers. Some team with no bad bullpen issues right now may grab him and stow him away to see what he can do. Maybe Boston or Philly. I hate to see him go away completely as he is/can be nasty but they just can’t let him keep throwing away games at this point.
It seems to me that the bullpen has some decent pitchers, but no real Bad Ass guys.
Yeah, I am waiting for the Marlins to claim him. I saw last week they brought up De La Cruz to pitch a game, but then sent him down afterwards. I didn’t think they wanted 60 percent of their staff from the trade.
I would also expect the braves to put in a claim. They seem to scout or pitchers well and know how to rip us off.
I’d be curious how that decision is made. Is it all DD or did JL have a big say. I agree with the Bad Ass comment. I think Zumaya is that guy. Plus Rodney brings a bit of attitude to the mound.
I don’t like to be negative, but The look on some of these guys faces say they are unsure of themselves, not the confident fist pumping attitude we saw in 06.
I’m talking Bullpen not Starters.
This is… interesting. He’s been historically awful in the majors, but there’s certainly no one else with as eccentric a repertoire as Fossum on our staff.
Well that didn’t take long. The poor guy never had a fighting chance to prove himself worthy as Grilli’s sucessor.
Next!
I’d guess the abbreviated ST didn’t help Cruceta too much and I’m not too surprised about his shakiness so far. He really needed to be sent to Toledo/Erie at the start of the year, but being out of options the Tigers hands were kind of tied. I hope he can clear waivers, but there is probably little chance of that – some bottom of the barrel team with no pretensions of contending this year will probably grab him.
Also, Fossum is a lefty, which gives us four possible LH starters to choose from. Fossum was used primarily as a reliever last year, so perhaps that is his intended role. Otherwise it is rather odd and one has to wonder if there isn’t something else in the works. Perhaps more real “drastic” changes are going to happen soon.
I kinda liked Cruceta dispite his blowing a few games (wrong situation for him maybe?) but I agree – he won’t survive waivers.
Cruceta said it got harder to pitch once the team got rid of Jacques Jones…the team chemistry just wasn’t the same, seeing him wave that colorful bat around…now it seems lifeless there…
If the guy can’t pitch because Jacques Jones is no longer on the team, he has serious problems. Excuses are for losers. Win and you don’t need any.